How well do you know me?

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. Then, just as quickly, it all went dark. Jordan could hear her though. She was breathing hard, but it sounded shallow and broken. She couldn’t catch her breath. Jordan fought to open his eyes, he needed to see her, but he had no sensation at all. He had no control over himself. Had he been drugged? Was something covering his face? Surely, he would still be able to feel that, but there was nothing. It was just dark. Was he alive?

He listened to the sounds of her struggle, that was the only thing he could hang onto in this moment. Whatever was happening to Jordan, he was able to hear her. Either there was still something he could do to help her, or someone knew only being able to listen to her like this would kill him. He wanted to scream, but again, he felt nothing. His hands would have reached for his throat if he had any indication that his hands were even there. It felt as if he were floating in complete darkness, paralyzed. Panic flooded whatever senses that remained, it threatened to consume him any focus he had, but he clung to the noises of her ragged breathing. Her sounds were the only sign that he still existed in some way. Then, something granted him access to his vision. He wasn’t sure how, he still had no sensation of his eyes opening or closing, yet images began appearing.

All he could see were flashes of her, sprinting through the woods. Her skin and clothes were dampened in sweat. There was blood too. She was covered in blood. How long had she been running? She couldn’t keep this up much longer. Whatever was chasing her wasn’t giving up and the adrenaline fueling her efforts would run out. Jordan tried to direct his attention to her surroundings. Maybe he could figure out where she was or get an idea of what was after her. But all he was allowed to see was her.

He could only watch her run for her life.

Still, the sound of her running out of air overwhelmed him. She couldn’t keep going like this and there was nothing Jordan could do. He could tell she was slowing down, and his breathing stopped for her. He needed to tell her that she couldn’t stop, she had to keep going. He could do nothing but watch. He wanted to beg for it to stop. Who was doing this to him? Who wanted him to watch her suffer defenselessly?

Finally, his view panned from her face to behind her back, allowing him to see in front of her. Jordan was able to see her running but also the array of trees and greenery around her. Unexpectedly, she crept to a stop. It seemed intentional, not like she had no other choice due to exhaustion. Why would she stop suddenly—purposefully—when a moment ago she was running as if her life depended on it?

And then he saw. There was someone in front of her. Jordan’s view of the scene was at such a distance and only she was clear. The other figure was extremely blurred, but he could still see the movements. They were scrambling, their movements were frantic. They had tripped over something and were attempting to get back to their feet.

Now it was Jordan who gasping for air. No one was after her, she was covered in blood, chasing someone who was desperate to get away.

SUNDAY 3AM

Jordan sat upright in bed, struggling for air, covered in sweat. He remained disoriented, but eventually held his head in his hands and let out a gasp of relief. At least it was a dream, he thought.

“Are you okay?” a gentle voice beside him asked. He jumped when Minerva reached out to touch his arm. “Hey, what’s wrong?” she asked, now concerned.

“Uh—yeah, sorry. Of course,” he said, although the image of her covered in blood while hunting someone lingered all around him in the darkness of their room. “Had a nightmare. Go back to sleep,” he reassured her.

“Do you want to talk about it? I hate going back to sleep after a bad dream. My brain will just pick up where it left off,” Minerva offered, she was laying on her side facing him, examining him. Jordan wasn’t interested in talking about the details of his dream, he hoped to forget about it entirely. But he couldn’t look at her without flinching, so he didn’t want to hold a conversation with her until he was sure his nerves wouldn’t betray him. “I’m okay, promise. Let’s just go back to sleep.”

Minerva sighed, “I wasn’t sleeping. Too restless,” her voice trailed off.

Jordan pretended to not hear her. He knew why she was restless and it made him feel ill. They were leaving for a trip up north in a few days to stay in a cabin. The exact cabin that he saw in his dream.

SUNDAY 8AM

“Coffee?” Jordan held out Minerva’s favorite mug with her signature first cup. She liked to start off with a warm—never hot—slightly sweet cup and about an hour and a half later she would be ready for something cool and refreshing. But when sleep was still slowly creeping over her, she needed something warm to kindly fend it off. Minerva practically buzzed with excitement as she accepted the mug from him.

He knew how much she appreciated these small offerings. He always told her it was no big deal because it wasn’t. But after more than two years together, the smallest acts of kindness won her over every single time. Month after month, it seemed like Minerva expected to reach the end of a good thing; almost as though she was bracing for impact before they hit a wall and realized they were all out of a limited supply of affection held towards one another. But Jordan was determined to surprise her every day for the rest of her life.

Minerva brought the mug to her mouth and mentally prepared for her first sip ritual. For some reason, it was essential for her to savor the first taste of coffee for the day. She never liked to rush it, the rest of the day would be a blur of chaos, but this first sip would be cherished. He loved watching her do this every morning, which is precisely why he was determined to always make her that first cup. She finally took her first sip and an unfamiliar expression flashed across her face before she smiled and let out a content sigh. She beamed up at him with her most adoring expression to say she was grateful for the perfect start to her day. Such a good actress, Jordan thought, except I know you too well.

“I fucked it up, didn’t I?” he asked, disappointed.

Minerva let out a frustrated sigh and cursed a few times before looking him in the eyes again, “How do you always do that? I was trying really hard to sell it.”

“Because I know what you look like when you’re not pretending to like something. Always overly theatrical, but never rehearsed, Verve,” Jordan says without even thinking twice. “I’m sorry that I sabotaged your day. I know it’s important to you. Maybe the cream was expired or something, I’ll toss it.”

“My day is not sabotaged, JD. It was an accident, and I would have happily pretended to enjoy it if you would stop reading me like a book,” Minerva assured him. As she spoke, the sour taste remained in her mouth, but she tried as hard as she could to not let the bad taste reach her face. Jordan shook his head, this woman would rather torture herself than hurt my feelings, so why don’t I trust her?

TUESDAY 7AM

For the past few nights, Jordan was tortured with the same nightmare. He never even remembered his dreams, but now, days before their highly anticipated trip, his brain had decided to feed him images of the woman he loved chasing someone outside the cabin they were supposed to stay in. Although the dream was more than just disturbing, he tried his best to not overthink it. He wasn’t sure how or why his subconscious would use such a specific setting. He had no clue what the woods surrounding the cabin looked like, he only knew the cabin from the pictures online; his brain must be filling in the details.

You watch too many scary movies, Jordan told himself. This had to be his way of sabotaging himself before the trip. Jordan and Minerva had this ongoing joke between them that it was impossible to really know someone until you go to an isolated cabin with them, which is exactly why this is what they chose to do for their second anniversary. Minerva had never done anything violent or remotely creepy during the entire relationship, so what made the dream so terrifying? If the images of her weren’t etched by his own mind, Jordan wouldn’t even be able to believe, let alone visualize, that Minerva could look this terrifying.

And even with how well he knew her, even though he felt he could read her mind just by looking at her face, he could not shake the dread of that demonic expression. He didn’t want to doubt her, but why else would the dream continue to torment him just before this trip?

Could there be something off?

There was only one suspicious detail that was grounded in reality—and not invented in the fictional nightmare he had been having. Minerva was estranged from her family. She was not secretive about this whatsoever. She had told Jordan probably on their second or third date, but it is harder to get to know someone when they only exist in the version of themselves that they present to you.

When you meet someone’s family and friends, you learn about all the different versions of themselves that are and have been. You learn how they operate in their various roles: daughter, sister, childhood friend, classmate, coworker. It can be an enlightening process, especially for red flags.

But Jordan never got that with Minerva. She explained that she cut off ties with her family and pretty much everyone in connection with them when she was 17. She didn’t dwell on it much, and Jordan figured that they must have done some pretty horrible things for her to make such an absolute decision without looking back.

He never wanted to ask what they did specifically, but every so often she would be reminded of something, which would prompt her to share a story about it. The way she talked about them always sounded like what she was choosing to share was minor relative to what she had been accustomed to. However, they didn’t seem minor to Jordan.

She had mentioned that whenever there was an issue while she was growing up, she was always assigned blame.

They called me evil, she said to Jordan once as she stared into space, like all the time. Jordan remembered being horrified by the admission. Not at the possibility of Minerva being evil, but that her family would say that to a child.

Any time something bad happened…Like when someone died or got sick or lost their job, my parents would pray, right in front of me, and they would ask God to forgive them for bringing such an evil child into the world, she said casually.

Then, Jordan thought she was trying to pretend to not be upset, but now that didn’t seem right. Minerva didn’t look defensive or vulnerable, she had talked about it so indifferently. The same manner if she had been talking about their budget for the following week or the weather forecast. He remembered that after a beat of silence, she smiled sweetly and said, fucking lunatics. He had laughed it off with her. He had thought she was strong and resilient for being able to talk about it without getting visibly upset, and how admirable it was that she could recognize they were the problem, not her. But now everything felt off to Jordan.

What Minerva didn’t know was that Jordan had met her mother. Once. About a year ago, Minerva had been in a car accident and needed surgery. They called her mother and Jordan saw her at the hospital. The encounter was brief. Her mother showed very little interest in the whole situation. She never seemed concerned for Minerva or fearful of what may happen; she simply signed the paperwork and gave permission for whatever the doctors needed, then she was rushing out of the building.

Jordan was not allowed anywhere but the waiting room, but he ran into her mother as she headed for the exit. He tried to introduce himself. He knew Minerva and her mother were not on speaking terms, but he had honestly hoped to get some sort of update out of her on Minerva’s status. But her mother became even more determined to leave when he made his connection to Minerva known. Jordan tried to apologize, he wasn’t sure exactly for what, but with every word he seemed to be offending the woman. All she could do was shake her head and say, I pray you get the sense to get out of her life before something bad happens to you.

He never told Minerva about this, mostly because he didn’t want to upset her by his actions or her mother’s words to him. They knew and loved each other so perfectly in their bubble. Jordan didn’t want her to think that someone outside of their relationship could influence how he saw her. Jordan had never felt like he needed to know who Minerva was to anyone else or the pieces of her that existed outside of their relationship.

Until now.

WEDNESDAY 11PM

Jordan dreaded falling asleep. The dream was always the same. Jordan watched her run through the woods, hopeless. And at the very last moment, something would change; Minerva was no longer the prey. Her stance and breathing appeared to shift entirely, from frail and anxious to ruthless and exhilarated. The only thing that remained unchanged as the dream progressed was her desperation. Or perhaps nothing at all changed. No matter how many times this dream plagued him, Jordan felt an urge to defend Minerva. He knew what would happen eventually, but still he felt a flood of anguish every time he saw her start running. He couldn’t see her as the vicious stalker, not until the other person came into perspective. He felt bad even thinking it once he saw the blurry figure below her, he tried several times to interpret it differently.

They were being chased together.

There was a misunderstanding.

The other person had been hurt and she was trying to help.

It’s just a bad dream.

However, nothing could explain the terror that consumed Jordan when he saw the look of primal thrill on Minerva’s face.

Despite how much Jordan wanted to escape the same images that visited him each night, he wanted desperately to sleep. They would leave for their trip tomorrow and he didn’t want this ridiculous dream or exhaustion to ruin their perfect getaway. So, Jordan let himself drift into a deep sleep.

THURSDAY 3AM

Everything was the same. Jordan saw the cabin, then darkness. He wished he could get used to the feeling of his senses being taken away from him. He had never experienced nightmares like this before. And then he watched her run. Same as always. Jordan attempted to calm himself because he knew it was a dream, but it felt like he was falling and suffocating on a loop. He couldn’t escape the horrifying feeling no matter how much he knew it wasn’t real.

Everything about the dream was the same. Except for one detail. When Minerva caught up to the other figure she was chasing, it was no longer blurry. Jordan could clearly see himself scrambling, furiously trying to get away from Minerva.

Jordan sprang up, gasping for air. Tears were flowing down his face. This was too much now. He needed to hold Minerva and look in her eyes. He knew she wasn’t capable of this. He felt bad for needing to wake her, but he needed her right now. He needed to make the new, clear images from his dream go away. He reached over to her side of the bed only to grasp a handful of sheets.

Minerva wasn’t lying next to him.

Jordan had an all-consuming urge to run. His eyes were still adjusting to the darkness, but as he slowly turned his head, he could see her silhouette standing on the other side of him, next to the bed. He blinked, hoping he was hallucinating, but her face was clear now. She had been standing over him, looking down at him, who knows for how long.

“Verve?” Jordan whispered hoarsely.

Minerva didn’t move. She was standing impossibly still, eyes open, looking straight at him, but there was no sign of her being there. Jordan barely recognized her; he had never seen her face look so blank, void of expression. Then he looked down, he saw that she was squeezing her hands into fists so hard, blood was dripping from her palms. He was nauseous. He looked back up at her face, but her expression was no longer blank. The corners of her mouth were twitched up ever so slightly and her eyes looked excited. It was the same face he saw in his dream. He couldn’t help but scream now.

“Minerva, what's happening? What the fuck are you doing?!”

And just like that, she woke up from whatever spell she was under. She looked around confused. She relaxed her hands, but panic set in. Minerva began sobbing uncontrollably like she had just witnessed something horrible.

“Jordan, what was that?” she cried out. He wasn’t sure what to say because he wanted to know the answer himself.

She continued sobbing, she could barely get her words out. “What did you see?” Jordan tried to ask between her cries.

“I don’t know. I—I thought I was dreaming. I don’t know. I keep going blank. I’ve been missing all this time lately. Like I’m asleep but I’m not in bed when I wake up. Sleepwalking, I guess. I don’t know,” she manages to get out. She looks at her hands and continues to cry for a long time.

Jordan manages to get her calmed down and back to bed. Soothing her is the only thing he can focus on to distract himself.

They just need to make it until tomorrow. They leave tomorrow.

THURSDAY 9PM

Jordan and Minerva had reached the cabin and settled in without letting the events of the previous night hang over them. Jordan was determined to let all of it go. Nothing was wrong with Minerva. She had been excited for the trip and was obviously stressed. And that stupid dream meant nothing. He had seen the cabin in the pictures while booking. He refrained from paying much attention to the scenery as they drove in because he refused to acknowledge whether the surrounding woods matched those from the dream. Woods are woods, he explained to himself, even if they look the same, so what? It all looks the same out here.

They went grocery shopping and made dinner together. They savored the food and each other’s company. This is what we needed, Jordan thought. Everything else, every doubt and negative thought was just a distraction or some juvenile attempt to sabotage their time together.

In the dim glow of the cabin’s lamps, Minerva was ethereal. Her beauty didn’t seem human to Jordan. He would have been content with looking at her for just like this for several more hours.

“I have never loved anyone this much, I need you to know,” Jordan confessed.

Minerva looked relieved. “Thank you for deciding to come. I don’t know what that was or what has been going on with me, but I know it must have been tempting to run. Far far away from me. But I really don’t want you to go anywhere. I love you,” she said. Jordan chose to ignore her word choice and he smiled at her.

“I’m gonna go take a shower, you need help cleaning up?” Minerva asked.

“No, I got it. You did most of the cooking, which was amazing by the way,” Jordan waved her off. After cleaning up, he realized how long the day had been. So many hours of driving after an endless night, he was exhausted. He didn’t want to pass out before Minerva was out of the shower and there was one thing he needed to see, preferably without her.

In his dream, there was a candle lit in the upstairs window. That wasn’t in any of the pictures he had seen and he couldn’t trust his memory of the wooded area to confirm it was the same, so he just needed to look. He wanted to confirm that his imagination was clearly overactive under stress.

Or something, anything actually. He walked upstairs and found the bedroom with the front facing window. He could have chosen to continue living in denial, but this was the quickest way to invalidate his anxiety.

He opened the door and his hand clutched onto the handle so hard he thought it might cut his hand. He didn’t care though. He needed the sensation to prove he was awake.

In front of the window, there was a small table with an unlit candle and a red, leather-bound notebook.

He couldn’t explain this other than saying it was a coincidence. But how was his dream able to capture, so accurately, a place he had never been to?

Against his better judgment, he walked over to the table and opened the notebook. His hands were covered in sweat and he wasn’t sure whether he had control of his movements at this point. In the notebook, he came across several entries, numbered in the top left corner. His eyes could barely focus at this point, but he flipped to the very last page with writing. It read:

The candle only burns when I come here. Mom says they could never get it to light. When it burns, I can’t help what happens next.

Jordan’s mind was fuzzy and he couldn’t make sense of what it meant or what it had to do with him. As he was holding the journal, his fingers could feel grooves in the back cover. He flipped it over and froze.

Minerva’s name was carved into the leather.

He wanted to go back to reading, maybe he could try and understand it. She knew about the candle then? Did she bring this with her? She was the one who found the cabin and showed it to Jordan. But she’s been here before?

A voice came from behind Jordan.

“Are you feeling okay?” it asked.

But for Jordan, it all went dark.

FRIDAY 3AM

It was dark for a long time.

Then Jordan was running. He felt sick. But he could not stop running. He knew it wasn’t a dream this time. It felt real. In his dream, he couldn’t feel anything but the lack of air, but now he felt everything. He wished to go back to the past few nights of dreaming. His body was giving up.

His lungs were on fire, but Jordan kept running. His vision kept failing him. Flashes of darkness threatened to take over and ruin his chances. He hadn’t caught a glimpse of her yet, but he knew she was behind him. He couldn’t remember much, but he knew that if she caught him, it was over. Then he heard her. “Jordan, please stop. Why are you running?” she yelled after him. This was new.

Tears streamed down his face. Why was he running? Was it all in his head? She would never hurt him.

It went dark again.

Jordan was on the ground when he came back. He cried because he knew what was coming. Minerva had caught up to him. She looked at him just as she did last night, crazed. Evil. She stalked over to him slowly, but he was trapped. No matter how hard he tried to get away, he could put no distance between them. Something held him frozen in place. He cried, begged for her to stop, but she only smiled wider. Is this what she had been planning all along?

As she closed in on him, her expression changed. She seemed to be in a daze. She woke up from the same spell as last night. She looked down at her clothes. Blood. Is that mine? she thought to herself. But then she looked in front of her and dropped to her knees. She had never seen Jordan look so scared.

“What did I do? Are you okay? What did I do to you?” she was crying, panicking as she tried to find a wound. Jordan flinched away from her, still crying out of terror at the sight of her. She begged him to explain what happened. She needed him to believe her. She had no clue what was happening, she just knew she did something wrong.

“I love you, I’m sorry. I have no idea what’s happening, I've been having these dreams lately and I don't know what's wrong with me,” she screamed desperately, “Please forgive me. Please believe me. I would never hurt you, JD.” Minerva grabbed his face and pleaded with him.

“I know, Verve,” Jordan said, entirely sincere. As they held each other and tried to steady their breathing, a wave of calmness flooded over them. When Jordan felt that the moment had passed, he pulled out his knife and pierced her in the chest before she had a chance to react.

How easy was that? Jordan thought to himself before heading back to the cabin. She never saw it coming.

Did you?